Monday, June 9, 2014

Digging for Antiques!

Hi Folks, what a week and end. I had to finish making some Macrame Planters to be sold at my friends store, visited my friends amazing apartment (another future post), attended BBQ's and went antiquing over the weekend.

When I went over to my friend Yasi's apartment the other week, she had all this cool stuff, lamps, benches, knick knacks of all sorts of neat stuff that she attained all from one place.

Yasi tells me about a store she stumbled upon while she was looking for props for her work.

Firstly, I was sold on the benches, and needed one for our outdoor space, so that was pretty much a deal maker. Secondly, I wanted to get brightly colored bottles and glassware to put flowers, succulents and display them in and around the house.

After a bit of planning we set out for a Sunday antique vintage store hunt. With the rival, Rose Bowl Flea market also going on we had a sure shot no one would be thrifting. EEEEEERRRR WRONG! The store isn't open on Sunday...

What do we do now? Call the owner and boom! Store is opened just for us. Keep in mind I wasn't going to waste a man's time. I dove right in and started rummaging through what seemed like an endless mound of hoarding.

Yasi did forewarn me that I would get filthy and the store was not organized in any particular order. She wasn't wrong. This place definitely makes you work hard to find anything!

Piles and piles of books, bowls, dolls, bottles, statues...

There was a lot of digging and sifting through stacks and stacks of random things. It was incredible.

10 minutes into our hunt, Yasi and I had our little piles gathered. Everything covered with a dusty film, but you could tell what we accumulated would look great with a little elbow grease and a bath. Like a fool I did not take photos.

It occurred to me that I had come specifically to get a bench, but had my focus diverted to everything else other than. So I told Carlos (the owner) and he brought me to another location two doors down that wasn't open to the public. He had larger pieces, statues, daybeds, bed frames, more glassware and mix matched dinner sets. It was a maze of odds and ends piled high untouched and covered in dust.

My glory moment was when I stopped to take a third maybe forth last look before solidifying the deal. I took one last look at the shelves of cobweb tangled bottles and spotted these genie like silhouettes, I could tell they were orange, but didn't know for sure. I climbed over a chair hitched a foot on a create and managed to reach the two bottles and gently bring them to my final stack of treasures.

Not many things had prices, you could tell that a while ago they had some sort of system and it just vanished over time.

So, the more you gathered the better your deal will be?

Nothing I grabbed had a price tag, so I was expecting to get a "gulp" moment. Yasi and I struck a deal with Carlos, and after four hours of hunting, digging and climbing piles of dirt encrusted and dusty who-knows-what fighting cobwebs the size of a ball of yarn and weird funky smells it was all worth it.

We came to a $500 hand shake deal for the lot. Yasi and I went halves and hope we made Carlos' Sunday worth while.

The trip home felt like it took forever.

Have you ever gotten that feeling, when you're so excited about what you just purchased and can't wait to get it home. Yeah I was like that. Just like a kid on Christmas morning.

I unwrapped all my goodies as soon as I got home, dunked them in a soapy bath and polished them off. I haven't figured out where I will put most of the stuff. But I'm content with just staring at them in our living room for now.

I love to see other peoples creativity and expression through their choice of decor. No matter what or where you live, your home reflects you as a person. I love modern influences combined with classic styles and different themes all mixed together to create perfect harmony.